Toon Talk plus

[cactuswatcher]

Saturday will be the 60th anniversary of the first Beetle Bailey cartoon strip. Beetle started out as a cartoon about college life at an unnamed school which just happened to have the same hangouts as strip-writer Mort Walker's alma-mater Missouri. One of Beetle's favorites was a shack of a bar known oddly enough as "The Shack." Like many, many real-life Freshman guys who spent too much time in The Shack between 1950 and 1975, Beetle ended up in the Army, where he found his true calling if not success. In fact, since he's been in the Army for about 59 years without promotion or even a hint of future retirement, it might be fair to say Beetle is one of the least successful college dropouts in history.

I mentioned to Soulful Spike a couple weeks ago that I was looking for a piece of cat furniture for Sirius. As shown in the icon he likes to sit on the table while I'm working, and with no better place to be he'll cheerfully lie down with his tail, feet, head,and generally his whole body directly on the books and notebooks I'm trying to work with. I set out the box that my lap top came in to serve as a perch, and he does prefer being on it because it's a little higher. But I thought it would be nice if I could put that box away. So I went out and bought a cat-cave as I call it, basically a little wooden barrel, with a hole in the side, padded all over and padded inside to be more comfortable. The day I brought it home and set it on the table, Sirius was very curious about it, in a fraidy-cat sort of way. He sniffed it and gingerly poked his nose in the hole, till he was convinced it wouldn't attack. Then he ignored it... I figured it would just be a matter of time. He loves jumping into closets to hide behind things on the shelves every time I open a closet door. Yesterday, he claimed the cat cave as his own. I was working at the table. He hopped up to greet me as usual, interrupting my work. After a few minutes he was satisfied with that. He moved away, got on the computer box and stared at the cat-cave. The next time I looked up he was on his way in the hole. He looked quite happy inside. It's still very warm here so I think he'll enjoy that more in a few months. After a few more minutes he was out of the cave and happily perched on top of it, the first time he's been up on it to my knowledge. Maybe in a day or two I'll put the computer box away and hope the cat cave will be enough for him.

Comments

[atpo-onm.livejournal.com]

If only all the rest of the people in the army would follow Beetle's example, everyone would be too lazy to do any actual fighting, and the world would be a more peaceful place.